Bet you wondered about this.

Ok, I can't help it, I'm a guy and guy's think this is funny. Check out the below link and learn something about the shuttle mission last week that I bet you didn't know. Make sure you check out the third picture in case you don't think this stuff hits close to home :-)

http://www.popsci.com/node/38439/?cmpid=PSCenews091709

Now you have an idea what retired guys are combing the web for all day.

It's Fall, things are changing

I'm going to be posting more often now, and since it's not all going to be about travel, I've created labels of interest on the right hand side of the screen to help filter out subjects people aren't interested in. For example, I've created a 'geeky' label for my computer and electronic rants and raves that might only be interesting to past coworkers. If you don't want to read all the posts, try out these filters.
So, what's new on the blog?

Labels to filter posts to subjects of interest.
Comment controls stripped off to allow very easy commenting by audience.
Added metrics to count the hits I receive on the site. So far not much activity. I'll have to start advertising!

So for all those people that wanted to comment but had a hard time, try again, it should be much easier. I may have to adjust the controls if spam starts showing up, but let's see what happens.

Where have I been?

OK, it's been two months since I posted anything out here. Summers are short, and it's been a busy one. I've installed some analytics on this site to see how many visits I was getting, and so far there have only been 10 hits in two months. So rather than keep posting all summer to a very tiny number of people, I decided to rest the blog until fall. I'm heading to Washington DC next week to help move my son and his new wife to Maryland where he will continue his education. After that, things should settle down a bit and I can pick up the old keyboard and start posting for the couple of fans I still have out there. So check back in a few weeks, and hopefully I'll have some interesting stories to share.

On the Road Once Again

Been home for a couple of weeks now, trimmed the trees and cut the lawn. The motorcycle is out and running great. It must be time to hit the road! Heading to Las Vegas today and returning later this week. Won't be taking my laptop this time around. Found out they charged $15 a day for Internet access in the hotel. A bit steep for an old retired guy.

I've been thinking about what to do to separate the different subjects I'll be posting going forward. So I learned what I can do with Labels. I've added the 'Areas of Interest' section to the right, so you can filter the many posts down to one of the subjects your interested in. I'll add some more as time goes on. I'll also have a report on my first ever trip to Sin City. And contrary to what they try to sell you, what happens in Las Vegas will be reported here. See you next week.

The vote is in

Well, after a week or so of heavy voting, the future direction has been set. Of the three people who read the blog, there is one vote to continue a blog and write a book, one for continuing the blog, and one vote to quit and find something I'm good at. One of the votes was mine, so there are only two votes that are valid. After pouring over the numbers and studying the results the best direction for now would be to continue the blog, hold off on the book, and stop reading my own blog. This will make everyone happy, but there will be a longer wait for the book. And that should give me enough time to develop writing skills.

Now for the blog, I'm back in Arizona as of yesterday getting acclimated to the weather in preparation for the trip back to Wisconsin. So the posts will start tomorrow and hopefully keep you up to date on the action. It was 92 here yesterday, to hot to work on a computer, but it's cooled down now and I've got a good Internet connection for at least a week.

Where Have I Been and What's Next?

I've been home and contemplating what kind of stuff to post here now that I'm not on the road. I also have taken a look at this blog software and found a setting to make it easier for people to post comments without having an ID. So don't be afraid, I can always delete your comments if I don't like them :-)

New gadget purchased in the last couple of weeks. I purchased a Kindle 2 off the Amazon site. It's the geek factor, I don't read enough books to ever get it paid off with lower book costs. To cost justify it I'd have to read hundreds of books, but that isn't why I got it. Walking around with a Kindle makes me think we are closer to attaining the Star Trek dream. You never see paper on Star Trek, but we are really a long way from it in reality. Unless you own a Kindle, then you can pretend it's the 22nd century. Some other time I'll let you know the pros and cons of this thing. Anyway, while surfing around the Amazon site I find where I can publish my own book. Now there's an idea, I can publish my own book with no up front costs on my part. That sounds like a good second career. I'll start writing books. I only have to learn how to read, then how to write, then come up with an idea for a book and finally write the book. When Diane, my wife, came home from work I told her about my idea of writing a book. Well, her response was 'So what time today did you start drinking?' Wow, I just opened my first beer when she got home. Guess that wasn't much of a vote of confidence.

Speaking of voting, I also found a gadget I can add to my blog to take polls. So I'm giving you a chance to put your two cents worth on the subject. I'm hoping anyone can vote and you won't need an ID, but of course I didn't test it. So good luck.

Space is Really Cold and Why Few Pictures of Me on this Blog

Friday night turned out to be a clear night, excellent for telescope viewing. I set up the scope on the front porch of the Cabin and aimed it at the first subject in the sky at dusk; Venus. I went back inside and waited another hour until the sky became completely dark. Once it was dark and I saw the sky was still clear, I moved the telescope to a spot on the driveway away from the lights of the cabin and tried calibrating the computerized object finder that I had problems with a few times before. This time it calibrated on the first attempt, and I was ready to explore the Universe. It's a good thing it calibrated fast, because when it is dark and clear up north you become part of Space. Or in other words, it is FRICKING FREEZING COLD! But that along with the dark moonless night makes it perfect to observe deep space objects. The Object Finder has an option to 'tour the night sky'. I observed about six different objects before the LCD screen was freezing up and getting difficult to read in the 8 degree temps. That was fine though, since my fingers and toes froze about 5 minutes earlier. The most impressive object was the Orion Nebula, I was surprised at how well it looked in the telescope, filling the complete field of view. I went inside for another half hour to wait until Saturn rose over the hill to the east, and then eventually Comet Lulin. Once back out, I commanded the Object Finder to locate Saturn for me. The screen was really cold and hard to read, but it displayed exactly where it was. It was a nice clear steady view of Saturn and its' rings. I picked out a few other objects to view while waiting around for Lulin to rise above the hill to the East, but the clouds moved in and my hands lost feeling before it became visible. All in all, it was a very good night with the scope.

Biggest lesson learned that night - don't exhale when your using the telescope. With one exhale you can fog the sighting scope, eyepiece, and your glasses all at once. It's really cold standing around waiting for the fog to clear from all that freezing cold glass!

Now I'd like to clear up something about the pictures of me in this blog. My dear wife Diane made a comment to me on my pictures when she came down to Arizona a couple weeks ago. She asked me 'John, your wearing the same Packer sweatshirt in all the pictures of you posted on the blog. Don't you ever change your clothes?' So if anybody else thought that, first, you shouldn't be paying that close of attention. Your most likely at work and shouldn't be spending time checking out what some old retired guy is wearing. Second, I have three Packer sweatshirts, two of which I packed for the trip. So I do change my clothes, and I did laundry three times on the trip, so back off. Geez, I checked all the pictures, and in many of them I was wearing my black jacket. That is why I don't like to many pictures of me floating around, I always end up defending myself.

Heading North Chasing the Stars

Heading to the wilderness of Florence with the telescope to see if I can focus in on Saturn and the Comet Lulin. I call it wilderness because I have no Internet access, and barely have any TV reception left. At least they delayed the digital transition until June so I have a couple of channels to watch until then. The Sky's might be clear on Saturday night, that looks like the only shot this weekend to use it. I have a feeling I'll only use it for a little while once I get standing around in the freezing cold of the night. But we'll see. Diane's heading up with me, so I need to come home Sunday so she can get to work bright and early Monday morning :-)